6 Songs Inspired by Suspected Axe Murderess Lizzie Borden

“Lizzie Borden took an axe / gave her father 40 whacks / when she saw what she had done / she gave her mother 41.”

Long before the sensational trials of the Menendez Brothers, O.J. Simpson and Casey Anthony, there was one trial that rocked the nation in 1892. Sunday school teacher Lizzie Borden was suspected of violently murdering her father, Andrew, and stepmother, Abby, with a hatchet in the quaint town of Fall River, Mass. The couple were both found at home during the late morning hours of Aug. 4, 1892 with their heads brutally hacked with a hatchet. Lizzie and the family’s housekeeper were the only two in the house at the time and Lizzie became the prime suspect.

The story is the subject of a new film, Lizzie, starring Chloë Sevigny as Borden and Kristen Stewart (who played Joan Jett in the 2010 biopic The Runaways) as Bridget Sullivan, the housekeeper.

To this day, many are fascinated by this unsolved mystery and still believe that Lizzie Borden did in fact hack her parents to death with an axe. Naturally, it’s inspired films, documentaries, and of course, a plethora of heavy metal music. So, check out the bands who have paid homage to the suspected murderess below!